This invention relates to cartons of the type which have a pour spout.
A carton which has a pour spout that is constructed in a similar manner to that of the present invention has been previously manufactured by Ackerlund & Rausing and is known in the industry as the "Expresso" carton. This carton has a pour spout which is formed by a main flap and an adjacent side flap which are hingedly connected along their adjacent side edges.
The main difficulty which has been experienced with the "Expresso" carton is in the fact that it is very difficult to erect the carton for the purposes of loading the carton. Because the pour spout structure requires that one of the side flaps be connected along its side edge to an adjacent main flap, complex machinery had to be developed in order to permit the end of the carton to be closed during the loading of the carton. The cost of the carton erection equipment has been so great that this carton can only be used by large companies which have the financial resources to permit them to obtain this expensive machinery. It is not possible to close the end of this known type of carton using conventional carton loading machinery.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a carton having a pour spout of the type which is formed by integrally connected side and main flaps which can be erected from a knocked-down configuration to an open configuration for loading without requiring expensive special purpose carton loading machinery.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for the attachment of portions of a first main and a first side flap to one another during the initial assembly of the cartons into a knocked-down configuration such that when the knocked-down carton is displaced toward an open sleeve configuration during the erection of the carton, the side flap will fold outwardly upon itself and to draw the first main flap toward an outwardly overlying relationship with respect to the first side flap to facilitate the closing of the first end of the carton in use.